Most of the revolutionary discoveries and remarkable inventions throughout history have one thing in common: they are the result of curiosity.

The drive to seek out new information and experiences and explore new possibilities is a basic human attribute. Based on it, we are unbeatable in our ability to create, invent and revolutionize.

Maintain curiosity, openness to new ideas, not be too sure, try to question yourself, question yourself, see from another perspective, recognize that this perspective can be even better, see what we can't see.

This exercise is not easy because it involves stepping out of your comfort zone. Still, it is necessary.

The constant search for a better way of doing things should guide our behavior

Steve Jobs said this very clearly when he advised us to stay “hungry”. Hungry for new things. Curious.

This is the seed of innovation, and it essentially means that we feel the urge to discover what we may not be seeing. Because it is what we may not be seeing very often that is the most interesting part, the key to the question.

It is obvious that curiosity is closely linked to humility. Only when we admit that we don't know everything can we set out to discover.

Having a curious mentality can lead teams to obtain different results in daily tasks, full of problems, such as e.g.:

• Improved decision making, through increased curiosity in verifying important data and information for decision making;

• Brings greater flexibility in the face of different scenarios, as curiosity makes room for the uncertain and ambiguous in a friendlier way;

• There is a reduction in conflicts between people, as curiosity increases the search for self-knowledge, as well as normalizes the conflict generated by questions;

• It improves communication and empathy between people, as it implies a more open awareness for sharing information and also more openness to attentive listening;

• It is the fuel for innovation, since investigating, knowing and exploring information and trends supports the innovation process;

• Improves the experience for internal and external customers, considering the basic principle of experiences is the depth of knowledge acquired about the customer.

Steve Jobs disse-o muito claramente quando nos aconselhou a mantermo-nos “famintos”. Famintos por coisas novas. Curiosos.

Esta é a semente da inovação, e significa essencialmente que sentimos o impulso de descobrir aquilo que podemos não estar a ver. Porque é naquilo que podemos não estar a ver muitas vezes que está a parte mais interessante, a chave da questão.

É óbvio que a curiosidade está intimamente ligada à humildade. Só quando admitimos que não sabemos tudo é que podemos partir à descoberta.

At Living Tours, one of the practical ways to measure the curiosity of any team is to observe its openness to interrogation and constant questioning.

Leaders create spaces and moments where employees feel free to question certain principles. In addition, we encourage team curiosity by not giving ready answers when the team is faced with a dilemma. Questioning allows perception and logical reasoning to be honed and thus expanded.

There will always be some risk involved between being curious and looking for the least obvious path to problems we deal with on a daily basis. But this is also the path where we can extract the best from our teams' capacity for perspective.

And, in a complex, obscure and uncertain world like the one we live in, being curious is essential to equip ourselves with essential information and data for the processes of learning and collective innovation.

I say this because curiosity and even creativity itself are not noble skills, reserved only for a few “special” people, as many people tend to think. The basis of these skills is in perception, in other words, in the way of seeing things.

Therefore, all people, regardless of their profile, can contribute to the creation or improvement of new ideas within a company.

Edwin Land, inventor of the Polaroid camera, got his inspiration from his 3-year-old daughter's questioning.

Let's think about what any company could gain if each employee became more curious, if all leaders could see curiosity as one of the main strategic levers to achieve goals and objectives.